{"id":35489,"date":"2021-04-22T14:39:55","date_gmt":"2021-04-22T13:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shefnews.co.uk\/?p=35489"},"modified":"2021-04-22T14:39:55","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T13:39:55","slug":"sheffield-universitys-michelle-rawlins-releases-new-book-the-steel-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2021\/04\/22\/sheffield-universitys-michelle-rawlins-releases-new-book-the-steel-girls\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheffield University’s Michelle Rawlins Releases New Book ‘The Steel Girls’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Award-winning journalist, Michelle Rawlins, has released her new book \u2018The Steel Girls’ based on the real life women who worked in the Sheffield steel industry during World War Two.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Steel Girls\u2019, which was released a week ago (April 15) is the first in a historical fiction saga series about the lives of Betty, Patsy and Nancy who work in Vicar\u2019s factory.<\/p>\n

Rawlins, who is also a lecturer at the University of Sheffield, wrote the book after spending two years researching the true-life stories of the women who worked in the factories which lined the River Don in the 1940s.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cIt\u2019s an honour to record their stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Steel Girls book cover<\/p><\/div>\n

The book release comes a year after the author\u2019s success with \u2018Women of Steel\u2019, the story of Sheffield\u2019s unsung heroes during the Second World war.<\/p>\n

The author said: \u201cWhat struck me was how little resistance\u00a0was offered to this new arduous, strangely unfamiliar and frequently quite terrifying way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

During\u00a0 Rawlins\u2019 research, she found that many of the women working in the factories were mums or young girls, with no experience of what it was like to be employed in one of the ginormous windowless factories.<\/p>\n

Upon asking the women why they chose to volunteer for such risky roles, the usual answer was simply: \u201cWe were just doing what was needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rawlins said: ” The sacrifices they made, the resilience they displayed and their sheer hard work is utterly humbling.”<\/p>\n

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Author, Michelle Rawlins\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Photo credit: Scott Merrylees Steel Girls\u2019 on 15 April.<\/p><\/div>\n

When asked how she balances work with her tight writing schedule,\u00a0 Rawlins said: “I’m very strict. I work four nights a week on the books. I aim to write 1000 words a night and always have weekends off so I can spend time with my husband and two children.”<\/p>\n

She added: “Training and working as a journalist for 25 years has helped me manage my time efficiently. I’ve never missed a deadline but equally don’t allow myself to work every hour God sends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The Steel Girls\u2019 is now available on Amazon for \u00a36.55, or \u00a33.99 Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n